Monthly Archives: December 2012

In the aftermath of last month’s Israeli offensive on the Gaza Strip, Al Haq’s field researchers collected testimonies from some of those whose lives have been devastated by Israel’s “Operation Pillar of Defense.” In this short video three citizens of the Gaza Strip retell the events that led to the destruction of their homes and the deaths of their family members.

Jamal al-Dalou describes learning that an Israeli F16 aircraft had bombed his family home, killing his sister, his wife, his two daughters, his daughter-in-law and his four grandchildren. Khaled Tafesh explains how a missile targeting vacant land next to his home, caused his roof to collapse while he and nine members of his family were inside. His daughter Hanin, alone in an adjacent room, was wounded by shrapnel. Hanin was rushed to hospital, but dies two hours later. Muhammad Abu-S’eifan recounts the deaths of his three-year-old son Tamer and his two-year-old daughter Jumana, who were buried under the collapsed roof of their home while they slept. Muhammad, sleeping next to them, survived. His wife, who had been preparing milk for her children in another room, also survived.

The experiences of all three families represent the ongoing suffering felt by the population of the Gaza Strip, which continues far beyond the signing of last month’s ceasefire agreement.

Dec 27 2012 / 3:42 am

“The problems started for me at eighteen,” Madleen Kulab said quietly, sitting just meters from the shore of the Mediterranean. “The police and port authorities did not want me to sail as a woman.” Though Madleen has emerged from this recent challenge, receiving a permanent permission to fish from the Gazan Interior Ministry, this is not the first hardship she has stared down and overcome in her lifetime.

Published: December 24, 2012

GAZA CITY — Khader Bakr, a 19-year-old fisherman, was thrilled to hear that he could now fish up to six nautical miles from the coast, up from the three-mile limit Israel had had in place since 2009. The change was part of the cease-fire deal that halted last month’s fighting in Gaza between Israel and Hamas.

In the aftermath of last month’s Israeli offensive on the Gaza Strip, Al Haq’s field researchers collected testimonies from some of those whose lives have been devastated by Israel’s “Operation Pillar of Defense.” In this short video three citizens of the Gaza Strip retell the events that led to the destruction of their homes and the deaths of their family members.

You are invited to support Palestine by taking part in our 2013 Sponsored Diet! to benefit Gaza’s Ark.

Israel restricts the amount of food going in to Gaza, a ruthless and deliberate policy whereby the dietary needs of the Gazan people are chillingly calculated to keep the population alive at a near starvation level. An Israeli minister joked that they were ‘putting the Palestinians on a diet’. Members of the international community are invited to join in a diet voluntarily, to show solidarity with the people of Gaza, and to raise funds for Gaza’s Ark

As we enter what is a ‘season of giving’ for many of our supporters, we appeal to you to donate to Gaza’s Ark as we continue to challenge the Israeli blockade of Gaza, particularly after the recent 8 day Israeli attack on Gaza that killed more than 170 and wounded over 1,000.

Three of our steering committee members have been to Gaza in the past two months, one with Noam Chomsky when he visited Gaza in October and two others immediately following the Israeli attack. One steering committee member lives in Gaza. We have seen with our own eyes the devastating effect of the continuing blockade and the latest Israeli attack. The people of Gaza appeal to us to create international events that expose the effects of Israeli actions. Gaza's Ark is the latest international effort.

With your support and that of international figures such as Desmond Tutu and Noam Chomsky (complete list: http://www.gazaark.org/2012/12/02/our-supporters), we will break the Israeli naval blockade of Gaza and attempt to sail a boat from Gaza carrying Palestinian products to buyers all around the world. The international publicity of Gaza's Ark will put the Israeli naval blockade again in the media, as have the Gaza Freedom Flotillas — of which we are a part — over the past years.

We have raised 35,000$ to date but to start work early in the new year we need another 25,000$ which we hope you will help us raise over the holiday season. To help end the blockade of Gaza, please consider donating now: www.gazaark.org/donate

Gaza- Israeli forces fired live ammunition and tear gas at unarmed farmers and

international solidarity activists working in Khuza’a, a small village outside of Khan Younis located near the Israeli border. At 10:30 AM, the farmers arrived and began to plough approximately 100 meters from the separation fence while internationals lined up in between the border and the farmers. They were quickly met by an Israeli military jeep and transport vehicle. An Israeli soldier issued a warning in Arabic to leave the area and then fired two rounds into the air. The farmers and internationals remained calm and continued their work and the Israeli soldiers left the area.

Mohammed Morad al Hessi (40) is a fisherman from Gaza City who works onboard his father's 16m fishing boat, along with several relatives. Mohammed is married and has seven children: 3 sons and 4 daughters. The income generated from the fishing he does with others supports more than 150 members of the extended al Hessi family.

On Wednesday, 28 November 2012, exactly one week after the announcement of the ceasefire between Israel and and all armed factions in the Gaza Strip, the al Hessi fishing boat was fired at by Israeli naval forces off the coast of Deir al Balah in the Gaza Sea. Although the terms of the ceasefire indicated that Israel would ease restrictions on fishing in Palestinian waters, the fishermen from the al Hessi family were targeted while sailing less than 6 nautical miles offshore. Mohammed al Hessi was arrested and taken to Ashdod seaport in Israel, where he was detained and questioned before being released at the Erez crossing into the Gaza Strip. The four other fishermen onboard were held on an Israeli gunboat for several hours and then released into Palestinian waters.